Well, as far as OTA (over the air) channels here in Manitoba, there are none that broadcast in digital, *****only analog VHF/UHF******.

So you won't be viewing anything in HDTV....and not even in digital with OTA here in Manitoba.

Whatever channels you pulled in with rabbit ears or a rooftop antenna (in other words OTA) 20 years ago are gonna be the same channels you can pull in right now in 2007, other than station "rebranding" (CKND is now known as Global.....MTN became A-Channel Manitoba, and then it became CityTV Winnipeg, CKY more or less calls itself CTV Winnipeg now).

Portage La Prarie....well, I don't know how many of the locals (ie. Winnipeg stations) you can receive out there or on which exact channels they broadcast on in the Portage La Praire area but at the most it will come down to these:
CBC, CTV, Global, CityTV. Don't know if you can receive any channels from Brandon or not. If you do, you might be able to pick up CKX from Brandon? But again, that is still in analog VHF.

A few months ago I contacted all the locals (CBC Winnipeg, CTV Winnipeg, Global Winnipeg, CityTV Winnipeg, and even OMNI 11 Winnipeg).
None of them have any funds / nor plans in place at this time to start broadcasting in digital. These are all analog VHF stations, except for OMNI 11 which broadcasts a weak signal on analog UHF channel.....35 or 36 or something like that, at least here in the Winnipeg area.

To put it simply, there are no digital OTA signals being broadcast in Manitoba at this time. And probably not for many many years if ever.

If you want digital reception and/or HDTV, it will come down to these two choices:

StarChoice satellite or Bell ExpressVu satellite. And you'll have to make sure you get one of their receiver models that can receive and decode HDTV, otherwise you'll be left with non-HDTV digital channels. Not that the non-HDTV digital channels are a bad thing, it's just that you mentioned the HDTV reception requirement.

Not sure if Shaw digital cable has any HDTV channels out there in Portage La Praire, I'll leave that up to you to contact them and find out.

And I'll take a wild guess and tell you that MTS TV probably is not available in Portage La Praire.

That is it in a nutshell, unless you plan to move to Toronto or Vancouver in order to receive OTA digital channels at this time (ok ok, Ottawa has one or two digital OTA channels CBC English and CBC French) and probably likewise for a big city like Montreal.....

I should add.....what kind of tuner is built into your TV sets (the ones with tuners) ?

If it's an NTSC tuner, then all you will be able to receive is analog VHF/UHF signals Over The Air (not digital, no HDTV). Of course, this a moot point here in Manitoba, as no stations are broadcasting digital signals OTA anyways.

If it's an ATSC tuner, then it can receive digital signals OTA, providing there are stations broadcasting digital signals Over The Air VHF/UHF (which of course is not applicable at this time in Manitoba). Furthermore, if it is an ATSC tuner, is is HDTV capable? Yes ATSC is digital, but that does not necessarily mean one can pull in the digital **high definition** broadcasts (although I would hazard a guess that most ATSC tuners are built with the capability to decode HD signals OTA).

In any event, if you want a "good selection" of channels for the kids, and want HDTV reception, then about all I can say is go with either StarChoice or Bell ExpressVu dishes/subscriptions.

Of course, if by "good selection" you mean 3 or 4 local channels and that's it, then all you need is indoor VHF "rabbit ears" (or better, a rooftop VHF/UHF antenna), tv sets with built in NTSC tuners (which every tv set built since the beginning of time until now has....unless it's one of those new ATSC tuner sets). But the reception will be all analog, all the time, and no High Def in that case.

Well, here we are in late 2007, and there is still no digital OTA transmissions/receptions in terms of TV in southern Manitoba/and/or Winnipeg.

Aside from all the rah rah and positive hopes, nothing has happened despite various people's hunches and/or best guesses.

I can tell you, it will be a long time (as in many many years) before southern Manitoba and/or the city of Winnipeg will receive any digital OTA television. I have done my research in depth and I can say this with confidence.

I don't mean to rain on anybodys parade, but I feel it is important to mention this. Don't bother loading up on ATSC receivers and or deep fringe rooftop antennas for the purpose of receiving digital OTA broadcasts in this area.

I just puchased a new HD TV with an ATSC tuner and before I started setting up an antenna, etc I was wondering if there is anyone out there who could tell me what their OTA HD reception was like in the Winnipeg area??

KellyB: the following OTA HD & OTA Digital (non-HD) channels in the Winnipeg and Southern Manitoba area are being broadcast and available for reception as follows:
Absolutely ZERO. Nadda. Nothing. Only analog channels are available.

Stampeder: No, FOX Pembina is not reaching Winnipeg with OTA Digital. One can barely pull in FOX Pembina in analog over the past many years (used to be a lot better before the Flood of 1997 took out their transmission tower in Pembina, or whatever happened at that time about 10 years ago).

January 2008.
There are **ZERO** OTA Digital (HD and non-HD) channels available in the Winnipeg and Southern Manitoba area at this time.
Only analogs, same old story as last year, the year before that, and so on. I would not count on digital OTA reception is the aforementioned area any time soon (soon meaning many years).

Last year there was a rather significant set of CRTC hearings, out of which came the 2011 cutoff date decision. As part of those hearings broadcasters were asked to submit documents on how they foresaw their DTV future, and the CBC's was by far the most thorough and descriptive. Listed in that report was a timeframe for digital cutover showing CBC Winnipeg in the first tier (second actually if you consider Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto as already the first tier). Given that the DTV cutover was green-lighted, I've always considered that the CRTC had in essence blessed the CBC's plans. I haven't heard anything to make me think differently so far, but ya never know.

Hey all, I am pasteing in an email I received from the CBC in response to an email I sent them asking about the future possibilty of CBC Winnipeg/Manitoba broadcasting in digital OTA. Here it is:

Quote:

We appreciate your interest in CBC Television.

CBC is currently brodcasting in over the air high definition in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver. Beyond that, no further decisions have been made
regarding further expansion at this time, as funding for such projects is not currently in place. Any further new transmitters would likely be placed in
major centres of high population such as Winnipeg, but it's difficult to speculate on possible locations for future transmitters at the moment.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has completed a review of the Canadian broadcasting industry with a view to setting
new guidelines given the influx of new technologies available through numerous new formats, with high definition television being perhaps the most
prominent. A review report has been issued by the CRTC in December 2006. The Commission has now begun the process of establishing a new regulatory
framework for television, radio and broadcasting distribution in Canada. This activity is expected to continue over the next couple of years.

The federal parliamentary Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage will also likely re-examine the CBC mandate at some point to determine how the resources
of the Corporation should be best used to serve Canadians in coming years. A specific time frame has not been set as of yet. Decisions on any new
infrastructure projects may be deferred at least until both these initiatives are complete, as together they will determine the future direction and
priorities of the CBC.

A number of months ago, I contacted all of the Winnipeg TV stations which broadcast analog OTA, asking them if they had plans to eventually start broadcasting digital OTA. I won't bother to cut/paste the email responses I received, but I still do have those emails on my hard drive.

Long story short, absolutely NONE of them have any plans in place to start broadcasting in digital OTA, due to costs involved, lack of funding, etc. etc. etc. Which is understandable, I am not trying to sound like I am complaining here, but I just wanted you all to be up to speed here in early 2008 as to what one can expect in regards to digital OTA reception here in Manitoba.

So if you were hoping to receive digital OTA broadcasts anytime soon in the Winnipeg/Manitoba area, please don't be led to believe that it's just around the corner. It's not.

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

OR

Log-in

User Name

Password

Remember Me?

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.